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How were Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted in Nazi Germany?

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Three Jehovah's Witnesses stand beside literature carts, holding religious magazines, at the Star Ferry Pier under a blue sign for City Hall and MTR Station in Hong Kong. — Jehovah’s Witness Adherents of the Jehovah's Witness movement distributing literature about their faith in Hong Kong, China.

In Nazi Germany, Jehovah’s Witnesses were subjected to systematic persecution due to their religious refusal to conform to the demands of the totalitarian state. Their commitment to strict neutrality and their faith led them to reject practices that the Nazi regime deemed mandatory.1

Specifically, Jehovah’s Witnesses faced persecution because they:
* Refused to perform military service.1
* Declined to salute the Nazi flag, which they viewed as an act of false worship.1
* Refused to participate in public elections or other state-mandated displays of loyalty.1

As a result of these stances, the Nazi authorities targeted members of the movement, sending them to concentration camps, such as Dachau. During the Holocaust, Jehovah’s Witnesses were among the groups singled out for severe repression and obliteration by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. This persecution was rooted in the Nazis' broader effort to enforce total ideological conformity and eliminate any group that prioritized religious or moral principles over the authority of the state.1234